AISD OKs tennis complex

Amarillo Independent School District Board of Trustees approved plans Tuesday night to convert the courts into additional parking and build a new, spacious tennis complex at Bonham Middle School.

The board approved a $2,618,000 contract with Western Builders to demolish the courts at the school and construct new courts at Bonham Middle School.

The contract also includes construction of dressing rooms, a coach’s office, a trainer’s room and public seating.

The decision was necessary because courts at the high school no longer hold surfacing and the fencing at the site has suffered wind damage, Amarillo ISD Superintendent Rod Schroder said.

There will be more court space at Bonham, and the Amarillo High School band, which practices in the parking lot, will have more room to practice marching, Amarillo ISD Chief Financial Officer Les Hoyt said.

The courts at Bonham will be ready for use as school begins next fall, with dressing rooms expected to be complete by September, Hoyt said.

In other business, the board approved the district’s 2014-15 calendar.

The calendar will have two weeks of Christmas vacation and holidays for students and staff on Labor Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Memorial Day. Classes will end on May 29, and the calendar sets aside April 3 and May 22 as snow days.

The state requires school districts to hold 180 days of instruction, begin classes on the fourth Monday in August and plan two make-up days. The approved Amarillo ISD calendar has three waiver days to accommodate the rule for days of instruction.